64 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



through the pupils, and very soon the foliage takes on a rusty hue, the 

 esthetic charm of the creation departs and the onlooker feels a sense of 

 depression; all because the sidelight entering the white of the eye has 

 been cut off. 7 Such may be the physical basis of that droop in spirits 

 which every one is apt to feel on a summer's day when a cloud sud- 

 denly obscures the sun. 



Such is one indication that the universal esthetic joy of the open, 

 as far as dependent on the color sense, is specifically subserved by the 

 physiological reactions of the eye, reactions which would seem to impair 

 the efficiency of the organ as a mere optical apparatus. A mechanical 

 defect is translated by physiological intervention into a psychic triumph. 



In the foregoing it has been shown that esthetic feelings may be 

 founded directly upon anatomical and physiological peculiarities of the 

 eye. Now I will proceed in the converse manner and attempt to ac- 

 count for some intuitively perceived esthetic qualities by reference to 

 idiosyncrasies of the visual instrument. It is doubtful whether ideals 

 of beauty can ever be embodied by the conscious mathematical synthesis 

 of their elements as a mechanic constructs a building by laying stone 

 on stone. 



I imagine that the creation of the artist at first appears to him as 

 an intuition, of a quality determined by his race culture, and that he 

 uses his techniuqe to put together objective materials to represent it. 

 But such a work is its own justification; it is accepted and graded at 

 its face value by a general consensus of cultured opinion, according as 

 it is fit and pleasing, irrespective of the laws of physics and physiology. 

 If it is beautiful it may claim place as a model of taste, needing no 

 defense. Now if beauty of whatever sort is but the outcome of certain 

 correlations of physiological and anatomical characters, it should be 

 possible to point out the biological substratum on which depends the 

 excellence of any work of art. 



But few works of art appeal to all men as approaching objective 

 perfection. Possibly one such structure in architecture is represented 

 by a ruin — the Parthenon at Athens. Many themes have been written 

 in admiring description of this building; much has been debated the 

 secret of its charm. With great diffidence I venture to dwell upon cer- 

 tain reported peculiarities of construction of the Parthenon as they ap- 

 pear to me related to known facts of binocular vision, and to suggest 

 that from this interdependence springs at least part of the esthetic 

 satisfaction aroused by the structure. 



Competent observers describe one physical detail in the construction 

 of the Parthenon which has aroused much curious comment. 



7 Sewall, "On the Physiological Effects of Light which Enters the Eye 

 through the Sclerotic Coat," J own. of Physiology, 1883, V., p. 132. 



